Charles Field Haviland left America for Limoges in the early 1850s to work originally for his uncle, David Haviland founder of Haviland and Company and rented a porcelain factory in partnership with his father and brother. Subsequently he opened his own decorating studio for porcelain to export items to the US and in 1868 purchased a porcelain manufacturing company.

He married the granddaughter of Francois Alluaud and later took control of the Alluaud porcelain factory, one of the oldest Limoges factories. Charles Field retired in 1881 and the company became known as Gerard, Dufraisseix and Morel using the white ware mark GDM. The partners changed around 1890 and the company was subsequently called - Gerard and Dufraisseix and eventually Gerard, Dufraisseix and Abbot (mark GDA).

This fantastic hand painted soup plate, circa 1876-1881, is from the classic Aesthetic movement. The center of the bowl portrays a country marsh with a colorful game bird gliding in for a landing among the wild grasses, calm water and summer sky. The wide border is adorned with two branches of different flower species, three lovely butterflies and a flying insect, all interspersed among a delicate tracery of floral and fauna . A gold band and rim completes the picture. Vivid colors represent the entire pallet of the artist. The plate measures 9 1/2" across and is stamped "CFH" in green without being underlined. A fair amount of CFH France does not have the company decorator mark even though the piece was actually factory decorated. Factory or outside studio, it is great. There are no cracks, chips, repairs or wear.